Chapter 4
N.I.V. AND THE ANTICHRIST
G Burnside.
The Scriptures have shown us how we can know truth, and to know that we have the truth of God in this confused and bewildered world. Note the Scripture.
I TIMOTHY 3
15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
"The church of the Living God" is to be "the pillar and ground of the truth." He who is the truth is the Author of the Word of truth for "Thy Word is truth."
The first truth mentioned here of which "the Church of the Living God’ is to uphold is "The Mystery of Godliness:" God was manifest in the flesh. Anything less gets over to the error of Antichrist as we shall soon see.
The next verse is a prophecy of the apostacy, that led to the forming of Antichrist. 1 Tim. 3 closes with the mystery of Godliness and then fitly the next verse reveals the mystery of iniquity—the man of sin—the "Antichrist."
God’s word shows how we may clearly distinguish this master of deception.
1 JOHN 4
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist.
"Hereby know" God’s certain word is speaking. "Ye have heard that it should come." God had foretold it so we may be sure, for only God can foretell with unerring accuracy. (See 2 Thess. 2:1-7; 1 Tim.4:1,2; Dan.9.)
One of the strange distinguishing marks of antichrist will be a rejection of teaching Jesus is, "come in the flesh." The most wonderful event of history was when "God was manifest in the flesh." It is doubly amazing that He "took" our flesh, when all flesh hid corrupted His way. Yet in that corrupted flesh our Lord never sinned.
He "came in the flesh." He was previously something far above flesh. But He became flesh so He could die for us. As God he could not die. Heb.2:9. lie died for us because he loved us, such unlovely creatures. John 15:13. To deny that He really came in our flesh is to question, or at least to downgrade His amazing love. To question this foundation truth, this "Pillar and ground of the truth," is to side with Antichrist.
HEB.2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him ‘ that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Rome, by its doctrine of the Virgin Mary’s immaculate conception, denies that "He... likewise took part of the same."
What is the Immaculate Conception?
"The Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception . . . was preserved free from all stain of original sin."
"She was created more sublime and glorious than that of all natures."
"very different from the rest of mankind." "Catholic Belief" p.214-217.
"The Blessed Virgin. . .by communicating to the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity ... a true human nature of the same substance with her own." Faith of Our Fathers p. 199.
Thus the teaching of Roman Catholicism is that the human nature of Christ is simply that it is not human nature at all but divine: "More sublime and glorious than all natures."
If Christ did not come down to the level of those who needed salvation, they could not be saved. Christ could not be our example. To attempt to, "Follow" Christ is to attempt an absurdity.
This is the very teaching we are warned against in the Scriptures in:
1 JOHN 4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,
1 JOHN 4:6 "Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
Note these beautiful words.
"Think of Christ’s humiliation. He took upon Himself fallen suffering human nature, degraded and defiled by sin.... He united humanity with divinity: a divine spirit dwelt in a temple of flesh. He united Himself with the temple." 4 B.C. 1147.
The enemy of truth hates truth. He uses every means possible to cloud the glorious facts so that we may not know them.
Note his latest methods of hiding truth:
N.I.V. "New International Version."
1 Tim 3:16 N.I.V. "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great. He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
Likewise again the truth is hidden.
1 JOHN 4.3 "But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of Antichrist.’
Both of these verses as found in the N.I.V. have dropped out "the flesh".
These are only two more examples of the Rome-ward trend too often seen in this modern perversions of Scripture.
Not only do they corrupt the word of God but they attack the greatest and most wonderful revelation of our Lord’s love for us. Note this gem of inspiration. 7 B.C. 904.
The Most Marvelous Thing in Earth or Heaven.-When we want a deep problem to study, let us fix our minds on the most marvelous thing that ever took place in earth or heaven-the incarnation of the Son of God.
That is why the devil hates this outstanding act. It was love’s most marvellous act!
The pagans spoke of their gods as not dwelling with flesh. But our God did. He did it for our redemption. There was no other way. He became "sin for us." He took our "fallen flesh" so He could die for us. Many have died on a cross. But "the most marvellous event that ever took place in earth or heaven" was when Jesus became flesh. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Why do we hear so little of it? Why are Christians so strangely silent on this most marvelous event that ever took place?" Why do some downgrade the sacrifice of our Lord? Have we allowed the enemy to cloud our eyes? It is certainly time we talked more of it. It is time we earnestly contended for this "most marvellous event" that ever took place. It is time we revealed to sleepy Laodiceans the enemy’s attack on this "most marvellous event" that ever took place. Why use a corrupted Bible, that attacks this "most marvellous event."
Is it a Rome-ward trend? Why does the N.I.V. parallel the Catholic Douay Bible? It looks suspicious! It downgrades the sacrifice of our Lord. It hides the deceptions of the antichrist. May you have a heart desire to be saved from this deception.
POINTS MADE CLEAR
There were two arguments used against the position taken by the Reformers which have puzzled many:
(1) It was claimed that the Apostle John used two distinctions: "an Antichrist" to designate the false teachers of his day, and " the Antichrist," referring to some superhuman monster of Jewish extraction that would appear just before Christ’s second coming. But on this point Dr. C. H. H. Wright truthfully remarks: "St. John, the only New Testament writer who employs the term, makes no distinction whatever between ‘an Antichrist’ and 'the Antichrist.’ That distinction was in the main an invention of the learned Jesuit interpreters."—"Daniel and His Prophecies," p. 165. London: 1906.
(2) The second objection was that while "the Antichrist" would deny the incarnation, for he would deny that "Christ is come in the flesh" (2 John 7, the pope does not deny this, therefore he cannot be the Antichrist. This argument has seemed so logical and conclusive that Protestants, to a large extent, have given up the Protestant doctrine that the Papacy is Antichrist, and have ceased to protest.
This argument, however, is based on a misunderstanding, caused by overlooking one word in the text. Antichrist was not to deny that Christ had come in flesh, but was to deny that He had "come in the flesh in "the same" kind of flesh, as the human race He came to save. (See 1 John 4:3; 2 John 7, and Hebrews 2:14, 17.) On this vital difference hinges the real "truth of the gospel." Did Christ come all the way down to make contact with the fallen race, or only part way, so that we must have saints, popes, and priests intercede for us with a Christ who is removed too far from fallen humanity and its needs to make direct contact with the individual sinner? Right here lies the great divide that parts Protestantism from Roman Catholicism.
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST VERSUS THE GOSPEL OF ROME
Through sin man has separated himself from God, and his fallen nature is opposed to the divine will; therefore he cannot by his own effort live a godly life, nor can he change his own heart. (Isaiah 59:1; Romans 8:7; Jeremiah 13:23; John 15:5.) Only through Christ, our Mediator, can man be rescued from sin, and again be brought into connection with the source of purity and power.
But in order to become such a connecting link Christ had to partake both of the divinity of God and of the humanity of man, so that He with His divine arm could encircle God, and with His human arm embrace man, thus connecting both in His own person. In this union of the human with the divine lies the "mystery" of the gospel, the secret of power to lift man from his degradation. "Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh." 1 Timothy 3:16. The "mystery," or secret of power to live a godly life in human flesh, was manifest in the life of Jesus Christ while on earth. (And "Christ in you" is the secret of power to conquer sin. Colossians 1:27.)
But mark! It was fallen man that was to be rescued from sin. And to make contact with him Christ had to condescend to take our nature upon Himself (not some higher kind of flesh). "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.... Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren." Hebrews 2:14, 17. This text is so worded that it cannot be misunderstood. Christ "took part of the same" flesh and blood as ours; He came in "the" flesh. To deny this is the mark of Antichrist. (1 John 4:3; 2 John 7.) To bridge the gulf that sin has made, Christ must be one with the Father in divinity, and one with man in humanity, and thus connect again earth with heaven.
God revealed this truth to the Patriarch Jacob that lonely night at Bethel. When he feared that his sins had cut him off from heaven, God showed him that mystic Ladder, connecting earth with heaven, which Christ explained to be "the Son of man." (Genesis 28:12; John 1:51.) Modernism has tried to cut off the upper part of this ladder by denying Christ’s divinity: while the Roman Catholic Church cuts off the lower rounds by teaching that the Virgin Mary was born without sin, and that therefore Christ did not take upon Himself our kind of flesh and blood, but holy flesh, so far above us that He does not make contact with our humanity. For this reason the poor sinner cannot come to Him directly, they say, but must come through Mary, saints, popes, and priests who will mediate for him. This has opened the floodgate for ail the idolatry of the Catholic Church. Here is this "dogma" presented in authentic Catholic works:
"We define that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the first moment of her conception . . . was preserved free from every taint of original sin."
"Unlike the rest of the children of Adam, the soul of Mary was never subject to sin."—"Faith of Our Fathers," Cardinal Gibbons, pp. 203, 204. Baltimore: 1885.
The Sainted Doctor Alphonsus de Liguori says:
"The merits of Jesus, shall be dispensed through the hands and by the intercession of Mary."—"Glories of Mary," p. 180, New Revised Edition. New York: P. J. Kennedy and Sons, 1888.
"God has chosen to bestow no grace upon us but by the hands of Mary." Id., p. 180.
"Whoever asks and wishes to obtain graces without the intercession of Mary, attempts to fly without wings." Id., p. 189.
"Mary is all the hope of our, salvation." Id., p. 195.
"Thou art the only advocate of sinners." Id., p. 189.
"All those who are saved, are saved solely by means of this divine mother; ... the salvation of all depends upon preaching Mary." -Id., pp.. 19,20.
"We ask many things of God and do not obtain them; we ask them from Mary and obtain them." Id., p. 150. Much more could be cited.
A Protestant may ask if the merits of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross are not sufficient, so that we can receive grace directly from Him. To this the Catholic Church answers:
"The merits and virtue of the sacrifice of the cross are infinite; but that virtue and these merits must be applied, and this can only be done by certain means." "Doctrinal Catechism," S. Keenan, p. 129. New York: Kennedy and Sons, 1846.
"The priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of making them worthy of paradise, and of changing them from the slaves of Satan into the children of God. And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of His priests.... The Sovereign Master of the universe only follows the servant by confirming in heaven all that the latter decides upon earth."-" Dignity and Duties of the Priest," St. Alphonsus de Liguori, pp. 27, 23. New York: Benziger Brothers,’’ 1888.
We now have before us the only means of salvation in the Roman Catholic gospel, as presented by men of unquestionable authority among them. This throws light on the reason why the Catholic priest has such a hold on his people. They dare not oppose him, because he represents their only means of contact with heaven. Cut off from the church, they feel they are lost; for they do not know of a Christ who has come all the way down to the lost sinner’s side, to whom they can come personally and receive forgiveness through grace alone. The divine ladder has been cut off, and Mary, saints, and priests have been substituted. But the Bible knows of only "one Mediator," Jesus Christ. (1 Timothy 2: 5; Psalm 49: 7, 8.) Facts of Faith 205-207